Author: almusky

Division play begins

All 5 Salem County football teams in action this weekend, but Pennsville only one playing at home; Woodstown’s Hill cleared for full contact

SALEM COUNTY GAMES
Friday’s games
Salem at Pleasantville, 6 p.m.
Schalick at Wildwood, 6 p.m.
Lower Cape May at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Penns Grove at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Woodstown at Paulsboro, 10:30 a.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – The excessive heat this week has impacted the things Pennsville wanted to get done in the run up to Friday night’s football game with Lower Cape May, but Eagles coach Mike Healy is confident everything is in place for what really is an important early-season game.

The Eagles open their WJFL Royal Division schedule with their home opener. In a division that’s not likely to get more than one team in the playoffs, getting off to a good start in the division is important. Lower Cape May lost one division game in a 6-2 regular season last year and didn’t make it.

“It’s huge from that aspect, if we want to be in that conversation at the end of the year,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “The short term goal is to go 1-0 each week, any coach is going to say that, but long term, you win your first division game and now you’re in that battle all season long and your destiny is in your hands. Obviously it’s a long season, a lot of things can happen, but it feels a lot better when you’re in control of things.

“Division winners are getting in the playoffs, so if we want to accomplish our long term goals then we have to take care of business on Friday. Obviously other things can happen, but it’s better to take care of the division and not have to worry about that.”

The Eagles are 1-0 for the third time in four years. They won their season opener last year, but didn’t win another game the rest of the season. This year, they’re a lot more settled in, showed to be more sound in their technique in the opener and are just more confident going forward. The last time they were 2-0 was 2020 – the last time they beat the Tigers.

“Definitely feeling more confident than we did last year just based on how we played,” Healy said. “Every team makes mistakes during a game, but we didn’t have huge gaping issues that were apparent to us that we’re trying to cover up.

“I feel like we did a very good job last week; obviously, I was happy. It’s a different team this week. They’re 1-1, so they won a game this year. We’ve got to step up to that and I think if we play the way we can play – we want to be confident, but not overconfident – I think the kids are feeling we’re going in the right direction.”

Like all the teams in this part of the state, the Eagles have hit a few speed bumps this week because of the weather, juggling practice schedules to accommodate high temperatures and heat index. As recently as Wednesday they had to wait until the evening to get outside and then they had to start without pads.

“We definitely have changed what we’ve had to do,” Healy said. “We’re not even really sure what time we’re able to get out each day, so we start with a meeting and then we have to wait until we get the OK from the trainer to go outside.

“We’ve had limited practice time and, really, we just had to kind of pick what are the most important things we need to get done to be ready for the game. Everyone’s at a disadvantage from it, so it really comes down to who can adjust and prepare themselves the best in the limited time they’re going to have.

“Considering the circumstance I think we got in what we need to get in. Would I want more time? Yes, any coach is going to say that, but I think we did a good job as a staff getting in what needed to be put in for the game and I think the kids did a good job adjusting to the schedule and kind of just going with the flow.”

The Eagles are the only Salem County team at home this weekend. It’s the only week this season just one county team plays at home.

SCHALICK (2-0) at WILDWOOD (1-0): The Cougars are off to their best start in six years and are looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016 (when they started 6-0) as they open the most favorable stretch of their schedule.

But for all their early-season success, they’re also looking to put together a complete game and it starts with their Horizon Division opener – and first road game – against a Wildwood team Schalick coach Mike Wilson says looks to be one of its best in years.

The Cougars are “close,” Wilson said, but they could be a little sharper. They scored on their opening drive each of their first two games to take the lead, then held on for dear life. Last week against Pitman they opened the game with a flawless 74-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes, but they weren’t as consistent the rest of the way and needed a bang-bang stop of a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to save the win.

“In hindsight we won two games against two very good teams, two solid playoff teams, both that will make a lot of noise this year, win a lot of games,” Wilson said. “We’ve just got to get better. I know that’s a coaching cliche, but that’s what it comes down to.”

The Cougars ran the table in their division last year and have won six straight division games. Of the seven games remaining on the schedule the Cougars beat six of them a year ago and the one they didn’t is 0-2 this season and lost to Wildwood last week.

Schalick leads the series with Wildwood 14-1 and have won the last 10 in a row. Last year’s 29-12 win was the closest game of the winning streak.

SALEM (0-2) at PLEASANTVILLE (1-1): The Rams go into their third game under new coach Danny Mendoza looking to put it all together. In their first game the offense and special teams held their own but the defense let them down. Last week it was just the opposite.

More than anything, they need to be sharper in the second half. In the opener they trailed 14-13 midway through the third quarter, then got outscored 28-6. Last week against Camden, a Group III state semifinalist last year, one bad bust on a pass coverage late in the second quarter led to a touchdown and a 7-0 halftime deficit, but they were swamped 27-0 after halftime.

“We competed, we just made really, really bad mistakes at the really wrong times,” Mendoza said. “Against teams with that size and those kind of guys you have to be, not perfect, but you got to be definitely teed in on a different level to be able to take that game from them.

“(What they did in the first half) I’m proud of them, but we have to sustain it. We can’t just be a first-half football team. That’s what we’re working on, understanding how to be a second-half football team … We’ve got to clean everything up. This is a big week for us.”

Salem is scheduled to open division play next week against Penns Grove, but a developing non-football related issue may impact the venue of the game. It is Salem’s home game, but because of the Rams’ on-going stadium project, it was moved to Penns Grove and then last week was moved back to Salem’s Walnut Street Field for what would be the final high school game played there.

But safety concerns around the game make playing it there an open question. Salem police declined to comment, deferring to the high school. Salem High officials call it an “ongoing situation” and continue to collect information. Penns Grove remains willing to host the game.

Saturday’s games

WOODSTOWN (1-0) at PAULSBORO (0-1): The Wolverines have had this game circled on their calendar for nine months, ever since the Red Raiders knocked them out of the playoffs.

They blanked Paulsboro during the regular season, but the script flipped in the higher-staked rematch. If that game taught them anything, it was the importance of being sharp and winning the turnover battle, lessons they’re sure to recall when they hit the field Saturday.

“It’s been something we’ve talked about since Day One, coming up short in that game and how well they played and executed and we didn’t,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “It’s been a big focus … on doing our job, executing and finishing.”

The Wolverines got good news Wednesday when running back James Hill was cleared to return to full contact practice. Hill had been rehabbing off-season knee surgery and was cleared to return to football without contact last month.

He was expected to get full clearance Sept. 13, but his recent evaluation came in time to fulfill his six full practice requirement to be available for Game 3 next week at Deptford. He practiced Wednesday in shoulder pads and helmets because of the heat and Adams said “he looked good, he’s moving around good” and is “itching” to get back to full duty.

When Hill does play, he’ll probably start out at outside linebacker and maybe get in the mix at receiver before transitioning into the backfield. He’s a 3,000-yard career rusher.

PENNS GROVE (0-2) at WOODBURY (1-0): The Red Devils take a different approach and a lot of motivation into their first road game of the year and Diamond Division opener against the defending Group I state champions.

For the first two weeks, the emphasis was ball security and eliminating turnovers, but the Red Devils had 13 in the first two losses (nine lost fumbles) and are minus-9 in turnover ratio. Four of the turnovers have been inside their opponents 30 – two after sizeable gains – and seven inside the 40. That doesn’t count a fourth-down stop inside the 15.

Opponents have turned five of the takeaways into touchdowns, either directly on the return or on the ensuing possession. The Red Devils have converted two of their takeaways into touchdowns, including  their only score against Pleasantville, and that’s the messaging going forward.

“Maybe I ought to change my emphasis from ball security to winning the turnover battle,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “We scored off our turnover so I think the key emphasis for me is turnovers lead to points and if we’re going to turn the ball over the other team is going to score more points than us. We need to get more turnovers and we need to protect the ball.

“I think we played better last week. Our defense can be pretty good. We cut down on the penalties, we played more disciplined, we limited big plays, but, again, we have to protect the football. We’re not good enough on offense to just waste possession and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

The Red Devils have plenty of motivation to break into the win column in this one. Woodbury has knocked them out of the playoffs each of the last two years and on a lesser scale the Thundering Herd rallied from a 12-0 deficit to beat them in the finals of the Taliaferro Foundation 7-on-7 tournament in June.

Photo credit: Lorraine Jenkins


PVLL goes to college

Salem CC bringing its softball games to Pennsville Little League park, fall event set for Sept. 24

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – College softball is coming to the Pennsville Little League.

The league and Salem Community College have entered into an agreement that will bring the Mighty Oaks to the PVLL Chris Watson Field as their home field for games and practices for as long as the sides see fit.

“It’s really exciting because we get college softball in Pennsville and that’s never happened before,” PVLL president Chris Watson said. “To bring that into Pennsville and to have the college girls practice and play in there, and our girls get to see that week in and week out, it’s kind of a big deal. It’s kind of like expanding our family.”

Salem CC revived its softball program after a 12-year hiatus last year and the softball Oaks played their inaugural season at the Carneys Point Recreation Park. They basically followed the school’s baseball team there, but after the season coach Angel Rodriguez went looking for a venue that would enhance the college softball experience for athletes and fans of their growing program and Pennsville proved attractive.

The Little League had been talking about having the Oaks play a game under the lights at the park, but it never materialized. Those talks morphed into more expansive discussions and soon after Watson brought his Pennsville LL softball team back from the Senior World Series the bigger deal was formalized.

“It just didn’t get a lot of attraction where we kind of really wanted it,” Rodriguez said of the team’s former home. “Where we wanted it to be as far being able to get out that we had a team again; most people still didn’t know we did. When we were thinking about what a college feel we wanted to bring, Pennsville just kind of had more of that feel for us.

“I think the new location’s going to help us kind of brand that news that we’re here, we’re a team that’s competing, trying to give back, and hopefully get a landing spot for a lot of Salem County athletes to come out and play.”

The Oaks had four Salem County players listed on their 2023 roster (Pennsville’s Faith Penn, Yari Laguna and Christina Dooley and Schalick’s Amy Chomo) and signed three in the offseason: Hailey Stewart (Salem Vo-Tech/Woodstown), Britney McCauley (Salem) and Gianna Dybus (Woodstown). Mackenzie Freas, one of Watson’s assistants on the Senior LL World Series team, joined the coaching staff this year.

The contract is a 12-month, year-to-year deal with each side having the option to renew. The college will pay a monthly fee of about $1,000 and be active in any facility enhancements. The playing field will need no alterations to accommodate the college game, but the first project they plan to tackle together is upgrading the dugouts.

“We have 21 women on the team,” Rodriguez said. “It gets pretty crowded in there.”

The team held its first practice in the facility Sunday and will be out there laboring on Labor Day. It has a fall season round-robin series scheduled with Delaware Tech and Anne Arundel (Md.) CC Sept. 24 and expects to play 12 to 15 doubleheader dates there during its spring regular-season.

It also plans to hold a clinic for Salem County athletes in October and conduct others during the year.

This week’s schedule

Here is the high school sports schedule for Salem County teams for the week of Sept. 5-9

Sept. 5
SCRIMMAGES
GIRLS SOCCER
Bridgeton at Salem, 4 p.m.
Clayton at Penns Grove, 4 p.m.
Pennsville at Gloucester City, 4 p.m.
Timber Creek at Woodstown, 4 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Gloucester City at Pennsville, 4 p.m.
Penns Grove at Clayton, 4 p.m.
FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at St. Joseph Academy, 9 a.m.
Our Lady of Mercy at Woodstown, 3:30 p.m.
Highland Regional at Salem, 4 p.m.
Millville at Pennsville, 4 p.m.

REGULAR SEASON
GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Glassboro, 4 p.m.
Pennsville at Overbrook, 4 p.m.
Salem at Pitman, 4 p.m.
Woodstown at Schalick, 4 p.m.

Sept. 6
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown at West Deptford, 4 p.m.

Sept. 7
FIELD HOCKEY
Clayton at Salem, 4 p.m.
Gloucester Catholic at Pennsville, 4 p.m.
Schalick at Woodstown, 4 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER
Overbrook at Pennsville, 4 p.m.
Penns Grove at Glassboro, 4 p.m.
Salem at Pittman, 4 p.m.
Woodstown at Schalick, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER
Glassboro at Penns Grove, 4 p.m.
Pennsville at Overbrook, 4 p.m.
Woodstown at Deptford Twp., 4 p.m.

GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Woodstown, 4 p.m.
Pitman at Pennsville, 4 p.m.

Sept. 8
FOOTBALL
Salem at Pleasantville, 6 p.m.
Schalick at Wildwood, 6 p.m.
Lower Cape May Regional at Pennsville, 7 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY
Pennsville at Gateway, 4 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown at Deptford Twp., 4 p.m.

Sept. 9
FOOTBALL
Penns Grove at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Woodstown at Paulsboro, 10:30 a.m.

BOYS SOCCER
Gateway at Schalick, 10 a.m.

Photo credit: Heather Papiano

Fond farewell

Former Salem coach returns with Camden and gets out with a win in the next-to-last game on his former field

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Rob Hinson has some nice memories of his one year playing on Walnut Street Field. He made a final one Saturday in the last time he’s going to play on it.

Hinson was the head coach at Salem for only one break-even year (2005) that started with an upset of a defending state champion but was part of the fabric that made the field historic. He coaches Camden now and in the next to last game to be played on the Rams’ longtime off-campus facility, his Panthers came in and gave their coach a 34-0 victory.

Camden 34, Salem 0
NEXT: at Pleasantville,
Friday, 7 p.m.

“That’s significant, man, because my year here the previous coach, Montrey (Wright), played for me and he’s like a son,” said Hinson, who still lives in Carney’s Point. “When we got the schedule last year I was like it’s going to be great to go back to Salem and coach against Montrey on that field. But obviously it didn’t work out that way.

“Living in Salem County, we would come down here and watch games. I love the people in Salem. They have a lot of passion, very similar to the people in Camden; they love their Rams. So coming here and getting a win regardless of the score is a big deal. It’s pretty good to be here.”

The Panthers (1-1) parlayed three big scoring plays — one in each phase of the game — and Salem’s inability to create offense to win the next last high school game expected to be played at The Nut.

The game originally was scheduled for Wilmington’s Abissinio Stadium as part of the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic, but conflicts at the site forced the teams to pull out. It was Salem’s home game, but they couldn’t play there because the Rams’ on-campus stadium was still under construction. And they couldn’t play at Camden, because the Panthers’ stadium was still undergoing renovations as well.

The Rams had played at Walnut Street for decades and the old-timers can remember times when fans ringed the fences many times deep to watch the game, but they ended that relationship at the end of last season when the bleachers fell into disrepair and they started work on an on-campus stadium. The City of Salem had been working to bring Walnut Street back for the youth teams and earlier this week confirmed to the Rams the venue would be ready with limitations for Saturday’s game.

The field was ready, the bleachers were occupied and the public address system was operational. There was no power to the scoreboard, so the official timing was kept on the field. Beyond that, it was business as usual.

The Rams will use the field one last time in two weeks when they host Penns Grove. Their stadium is expected to be ready for their Oct. 7 game with Paulsboro.

Camden’s Braheem Long will take away fond memories of the field, too. His late father used to live in Salem and the senior defensive back remembers playing on the field growing up. He came back Saturday as a Syracuse commitment to block a punt, return the second half kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and – his personal favorite – return an interception 40 yards for the game’s final score.

“This is actually the field I grew up on, so I decided to play real hard; I did it for him,” Long said. “It was definitely special. People usually don’t throw my way, so when they threw my way, I made it count.”

It wasn’t such a good experience for the Rams. Salem coach Danny Mendoza said if he could put last week’s offense with this week’s defense they could have something to build on, but they just made too many mistakes.

With the exception of one coverage bust on fourth down that cost them a touchdown in the first half and tiring in the second half, the defense held up its end. They held the Panthers to 38 yards rushing and 126 yards total in the first half and turned them

The offense, however, could never make any headway against Camden’s imposing defensive presence. They barely had over 100 net yards — 71 of it came on two Ramaji Bundy pass completions — and through three quarters they were held to negative rushing yardage.

Their deepest penetration into Camden territory was the 29 (on the first play of the second quarter) and that snap produced an interception. It didn’t help three starters went down in the first quarter. 

Special teams were equally problematic. The Rams (0-2) had two punts blocked, the ones they did get away didn’t go far, and they had that kickoff return by Long.

“You’re not going to win any games with that, no matter how good you play,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board, do some soul searching and change some things offensively and see what’s the best package for us.

“We’ve got have the energy in all three phases of the game. If we can ever get all three phases relatively similar production-wise, I think we’ll be able to pick it up. We’ve got to fix some things.”

Camden 34, Salem 0

CAM (34)SAL (0)
131st Downs5
27-151Rushes-yds26-18
11-24-0Passes7-18-2
114Passing yds89
0-0Fumbles-lost1-0
1-24.0Punts-avg7-14.0
9-75Penalties-avg5-35
Camden (1-1)071314 –34
Salem (0-2)0000 –0

Scoring plays
C – D’hani Cobbs 47 pass from Jaythan Candelario (Jah’Rodd Hamilton kick), 4:14 2Q
C – Braheem Long 89 kickoff return (Jah’Rodd Hamilton kick), 11:38 3Q
C – Judah Anthony 11 run (kick failed), 1:46 3Q
C – Judah Anthony 17 run (Jah’Rodd Hamilton kick), 6:24 4Q
C – Braheem Long 40 interception return (Jah’Rodd Hamilton kick), 4:45 4Q

Schalick holds on

Cougars once again ‘found a way’ to win, turning back late 2-point conversion to edge Pitman, remain undefeated

SALEM COUNTY GAMES
Friday’s game
Schalick 14, Pitman 13
Saturday’s game
Camden at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — Nobody pays attention to a two-point conversion until it matters. Oh, did it matter Friday night.

Schalick senior safety Jake Siedlecki went over Pitman tight end Stephen Devanney to knock down a go-ahead 2-point try with 1:24 to play to preserve the Cougars’ 14-13 win and unbeaten on the season.

Schalick 14,
Pitman 13
NEXT: Schalick
at Wildwood,
Friday, 6 p.m.

It was 6-foot-1 against 6-2 defending running back Trey Tinges’ jump pass for the lead and Siedlecki, the smaller of the two, went over the top to come out on top. The Panthers set up the potential game-winning play when Tinges pushed in from the 1 after Siedlecki had gotten beaten on a pass to Devanney on fourth-and-15 the play before.

“The play before I messed up, but I was able to make up for it, thank God,” Siedlecki said. “On that last play we were in man coverage and once I saw (Devanney) put his head up I knew it was going to be a pass. I got my hand in front and executed the play.

“I didn’t have my eyes in the backfield, so I honestly don’t know (it was going to be a Tim Tebow jump pass), I just had my eyes on my man and it went in my favor. I’m glad we got the win.”

Earlier in the quarter, in a scenario eerily similar to last week’s game with Gloucester City, the Cougars stopped Pitman quarterback Kyle Kubat on fourth-and-1 from the 4 to maintain a 14-7 lead. R.J. Piernikoski, Reggie Allen and Levi Freeney-Childers led the charge that stopped Kubat about eight inches from the line to gain. A week ago, the defensive line stuffed Gloucester City quarterback Jake Seibert twice from the 1 to keep him the Lions of the end zone.

And just like last week, the Cougars’ offense couldn’t move ball out and Kenai Simmons had to punt from his end zone. This week, he got off a high punt that took a Schalick bounce and set the Panthers up just short of midfield. 

Pitman drove down to score, just like Gloucester City did, to tighten the game, but this time Schalick and Siedlecki denied the extra point, preventing the need for the Cougars to put together a winning drive into the final minute.

Pitman coach Chris Thomas said there was no doubt he was going for the win in that situation. The play was a pass all the way.

“We had something for the situation, something we felt good about and that decision was made a long time ago,” he said. “We knew on the road, against a team that’s very, very good, a playoff team like Schalick, (if) the situation presents itself where we have a chance to win the game with that play with about a minute and a half left, on the road, especially, no question we’re going for that.

“It might not have worked out, (but) I’d still make the call. I need to make a better play call in that situation. You’ve got to give credit to them. They played it very well.”

The conversion try was a bang-bang play in the end zone and neither team’s head coach could say definitively if they thought there was pass interference on it. Siedlecki was behind Devanney in man coverage but said he got his hand in while breaking up the pass.

Pitman’s Trey Tinges (4) brings down Schalick quarterback Kenai Simmons after a short gain. Top photo: Schalick’s Jake Siedlecki (2) saved the Cougars’ victory by knocking down the potential go-ahead two-point conversion in the end zone. (Photos by Heather Papiano)

The Cougars improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2017 with their second nailbiter in as many weeks, but they were far from satisfied with the performance. Even the hero of the night, Siedlecki, agreed “that’s not how we should win a game.”

They put together a flawless 74-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes to start the game, capped by Kenai Simmons’ 2-yard run to open the scoring, but they didn’t do much else offensively after that. Allen scored on a 2-yard run with 29 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Cougars a 14-7 halftime lead, but in the second half they had only 46 yards of net offense.

Outside of their two scoring drives, they had only 57 more yards. Allen, who did a lot of the heavy lifting on the opening drive, finished with 67 yards rushing. Tinges had 109 yards rushing for Pitman, 82 in the second half, 50 in the fourth quarter.

“We found a way to win, I give the kids credit for that; however, we deserved to lose tonight,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “We did not play well. We were not focused. We had no energy from the get-go. We talked to them all week about it. They laid a duck tonight and I told them. Not happy.

“When we had to dig down deep, we did, but we should have never got to that point … We are our own worst enemies. Like tonight on offense, we stopped ourselves; they never stopped us. And that’s the frustrating part, we can’t put together a complete game. So, we’ve got to do a little searching of souls this week.”

The Cougars might not be happy with the first two games, but there are outside interests that believe, especially after they won the opener, they have a real chance to run the table.

The rest of their schedule appears favorable. Of the seven teams remaining on the schedule, the Cougars beat six of them a year ago and the one they didn’t is 0-2 this season.

They’re not listening.

“In all honesty, I understand from an outside perspective, but I’m a week-to-week guy,” Wilson said. “I only look at scout film for somebody else when the game’s over with. We’ve got to win every week and at the end if you win them all, you win them all, but it’s a week by week thing.”

NOTES: Friday’s game was the closest in the series since 1985, the only other one-point game they’ve played (20-19 Schalick) … Each team had only one possession in the first and third quarters … The Cougars have won 13 of the last 14 games played between the teams … The last time they were 3-0 was 2016, when they started the season 6-0.

Schalick 14, Pitman 13

PIT (13)SCH (14)
151st Downs11
33-182Rushes-yds34-133
6-13-0Passes4-5-0
64Passing yds61
1-0Fumbles-lost0-0
2-32.0Punts-avg2-39.0
4-25Penalties-yds5-35
Pitman (0-1)0706 –13
Schalick (2-0)7700 –14

Scoring plays
S – Kenai Simmons 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 3:19 1Q
P – Chase Rollins 2 run (Hudson Rue kick), 9:39 2Q
S – Reggie Allen 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 0:29 2Q
P – Trey Tinges 1 run (pass failed), 1:14 4Q

Eagles soar in opener

Pennsville plays complete game, erupts for 33 points in second quarter, routs Lindenwold

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

LINDENWOLD – It’s been a couple years since Pennsville put together as complete a game as it did in its opener Thursday night. It may never have had a more prodigious second quarter.

The Eagles dominated in all three phases and erupted for 33 points in the second quarter to open their season with a 49-6 rout of Lindenwold.

Pennsville 49,
Lindenwold 6
NEXT: vs. L. Cape May,
Friday, 7 p.m.

“Obviously we’re excited because we played a full game how we’re capable of doing; that we can show up and do what’s expected from the first snap to the last snap,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “Even our younger kids when they were in at the end of the game, they still kept playing, kept moving the ball, played well defensively. The entire program I was happy with.

“It’s the first time in a couple years I really felt like we played a full game start to finish and, more importantly, didn’t have any letdown at any point during the game.”

Their first two drives of the game netted in a field goal and a fumble out of the end zone trying to score for a touchback. After that, they were relentless.

Sky Eppes rushed for 118 yards and four touchdowns and Rylan Hardy rushed for 60 yards and two scores. Quarterback Robbie McDade completed 4-of-6 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown to Malik Rehmer. Rehmer caught three balls for 88 yards.

The Eagles scored their 33 points in the second quarter in a span of about 10 minutes. Eppes scored the first three touchdowns and Hardy scored the last two. The first four came over a stretch of about four minutes.

“We’re setting the tone early and we’re going to finish the same way, letting everybody know we’re different this year and we’re not letting up any time soon,” Eppes said. “Before the game when we’re breaking it down I told everybody that we’re going to try to break records this year and they stepped up and tried to make it happen.”

The Eagles play their home opener next Friday against Lower Cape May looking to go 2-0 for the first time since 2020.

The loss was Lindenwold’s 16th in a row going back to 2021. Pennsville won last year’s game 34-26, but the Lions were driving for a potential game-tying score when time expired.

Pennsville 49, Lindenwold 6

Pennsville (1-0)93370 –49
Lindenwold (0-2)0006 –6

Scoring plays
P – Jackson Leino 34 FG, 7:40 1Q
P – Malik Rehmer 43 pass from Robbie McDade (PAT failed), 2:36 1Q
P – Sky Eppes 48 run (PAT failed), 11:36 2Q
P – Sky Eppes 1 run (Jackson Leino kick), 10:34 2Q
P – Sky Eppes 14 run (PAT failed), 7:53 2Q
P – Rylan Hardy 20 run (Jackson Leino kick), 7:30 2Q
P – Rylan Hardy 20 run (Jackson Leino kick), 1:49 2Q
P – Sky Eppes 9 run (Jackson Leino kick), 5:09 3Q
L – Denny 1 run (pass failed), 5:15 4Q

Big opening night

Wolverines take control of opener with early turnovers, seal the victory with solid second half

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – When Woodstown coach John Adams talks about Garrett Leyman being a possession guy for the Wolverines, he means for the offense. A down-the-field threat who’ll catch anything thrown remotely in his direction a veritable frisbee-catching-dog kind of receiver.

Woodstown 34,
Haddon Heights 7
NEXT: at Paulsboro,
Saturday, 11 a.m.

But the junior was a pretty good possession guy for the Wolverines’ defense in Thursday night’s opener, too, and at point was the opponent’s most reliable receiver.

He intercepted two of Haddon Heights’ first four passing attempts and a had fumble recovery in the first 14 minutes of the season to give the Wolverines short fields to work with on the way to a quick 20-point lead en route to a 34-7 victory.

“Just in the right place at the right time,” Leyman said. “I would have never imagined it happening. It was fun to finally be that guy.”

“People forget he’s really solid on defense; that’s where we actually started him first in our program,” Adams said. “Right away they ran that RPO and we were worried about that and Garrett was right there, played it perfect, got the pick. That was awesome.”

The Wolverines turned their visitors over on each of their first three defensive series and four of the first five times the Garnets attempted to possess the ball. Leyman spoiled two of the Garnets’ first three series with interceptions and later recovered a fumbled kickoff.

With the help of the takeaways, the Wolverines ran their first 25 plays of the game inside Haddon Heights territory, only two outside the 25. They didn’t run their first play in their own end until 4:30 remained in the first half. 

They scored 17 points off the first-half turnovers and came within two yards of adding another touchdown off one of them

“If you can win the turnover battle, you usually win the game, and that’s what we did tonight,” Adams said.

Meanwhile, kicker Jake Ware had a big night making his varsity debut on the field that bears his grandfather’s name.

He kicked field goals of 33 and 22 yards in the first half and his first three kickoffs found the end zone. His next kickoff was not quite as long, but the Garnets fumbled the return with Leyman there to fall on it. Another kickoff in the half found the end zone but was negated by a penalty. Altogether, he accounted for 10 points.

“It was great,” Ware said. “Once I got my groove, I was not missing; it felt great. It was as good as it could have been. It could have looked prettier, but everything went in.

“I thought I was going to get that much (work), but throughout the whole game not primarily in the first half, first quarter. It definitely helped me get my groove early and after those first couple kicks I was in my groove.”

It could have been a night for nerves. Ware went to the Woodstown schools through eighth grade, then transferred to Salesianum in Delaware to participate in that school’s nationally ranked soccer program. But he returned to his roots last winter to play on the field that bears his Hall of Fame coach grandfather Clint’s name and rejoin all his childhood friends.

“There was a little bit of emotion,” he admitted, “but I didn’t try to think about too much because I was trying to focus on doing my thing and not messing up at all.”

The Wolverines hadn’t attempted more than three field goals in any season over the last 10 years, but they almost tried that many in the first half. Adams thought about giving his new weapon a shot at a longer one when a first-and-goal got pushed back to the 25 by penalties, but recanted because of the distance (potentially 42 yards). The Wolverines almost scored when they went for it anyway, but Zach Bevis was stopped just short of the goal line on a pass from Max Webb.

For all that went the Wolverines’ way in the first half, it wasn’t a sharp half. Webb delivered an impassioned speech to the players at halftime about doing better, followed by a similar message from Adams, and the Wolverines were much cleaner in the second half.

They got two more takeaways and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first score was a pass from Webb to Bevis and the other was a 58-yard dash from Bryce Belanfanti.

The Wolverines were looking for someone to help keep their running game viable while they await the return of James Hill from offseason surgery. Belanfanti answered that call with 125 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night. Woodstown rushed for 206 yards as a team.

“I took a lot of responsibility in it,” Belanfanti said. “I know people didn’t believe in us without James, but we did what we could.”

And when Hill, a 3,000-yard career rusher, does get back sometime after Sept. 13, what then?

“It’s going to be hard for defenses,” Belanfanti said. “We’ll be running all over them, really.”

Woodstown 34, Haddon Heights 7

HHTS (7)WOOD (34)
91st Downs11
22-72Rushes-yds36-206
8-20-3Passes3-9-0
73Passing yds38
3-3Fumbles-lost0-0
3-34.0Punts-avg3-34.0
3-42Penalties-yds9-100

Haddon Heights (0-1)0700 —7
Woodstown (1-0)1010014 —34

Scoring plays
W – Bryce Belanfanti 3 run (Jake Ware kick), 10:27 1Q
W – Jake Ware 32 FG, 8:45 1Q
W – Jake Ware 22 FG, 11:19 2Q
W – Max Webb 8 run (Jake Ware kick), 10:10 2Q
HH – Damier Outterbridge-Ali 7 pass from Drew Harris (Drew Harris kick), 4:39 2Q
W – Zach Bevis 9 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick), 8:18 4Q
W – Bryce Belanfanti 58 run (Jake Ware kick), 6:43 4Q

Bryce Belanfanti signals after scoring Woodstown’s first touchdown of the season. Belanfanti got the final TD of the game, too, on a 58-yard burst in the fourth quarter. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)


Looking for answers

Penns Grove’s defense plays well enough to win, but turnovers continue to handicap offense

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – Teachable moments on the football field take on all forms and often reflect the personality of the coaches delivering them.

Pleasantville 14,
Penns Grove 6
NEXT: Penns Grove
at Woodbury,
Sept. 9, 10:30 a.m.

The players from Penns Grove huddled around coach John Emel near midfield Friday moments after the post-game handshake for a quick breakdown of a 14-6 loss to Pleasantville that stung a lot. Then they looked across the field and wondering which of the teams that played lost the game.

Down in the far end zone, the Greyhounds, who should have been high-fiving their way back to the buses celebrating their first win of the season, were doing 40-yard up-and-backs to understand the effort they had just given was just not acceptable.

Pleasantville coach Malachi Timberlake said it was the first time he has ever resorted to such tactics, but he needed to get a message across early in the season.

“I felt it needed to be done,” he said. “We’re happy to get the win, but to be great they all need to be on the same page.

“We’re not playing our best brand of football. It’s the same mistakes week after week. We’re going to be in dogfights every single week until we get better. I’m proud of them that they got the win, figured out how they got the win, but it’s just not good enough for our standards. We have a lot of talent and it’s not showing on the field. We’ve got to get our point across or it’s going to be a long season.”

Over on the other side, the Red Devils were left to wonder what might have been. Their defense gave them every chance to win the game, but their offense sputtered for the second straight week under the weight of six more turnovers – five, if you discount fumbling loading up for a Hail Mary on the final play..

The Red Devils held their visitors to 172 net yards and one offensive touchdown. They made four fourth-down stops (three with lost yardage) – five if you count the time they pressured the Greyhounds to jump offsides on fourth-and-1 that forced them to punt to start the fourth quarter.

Dameon Wilson made a fourth-down stop and recovered a fumble on consecutive series, Willie Slocum had a fourth-down sack and Bryce Wright had an interception.

“We played way better than we did last week defensively; you see the scoreboard,” Wilson said. “I feel like I played better as an individual. I did my job. I feel like my team did their job. We’ve just got to keep the good defense up. We’ve just got to be able to score, that’s it. The defense is fine, we’ve just got to be able to score.”

It looked like the Red Devils were going to get another stop in the red zone in the second quarter, but left-handed sophomore quarterback Ahmad Jones zipped a sharp spiral to Dwayne Carter between two Penns Grove defenders on fourth down from the 19 for the only touchdown of the half.

Francisco Aguirre kicked the extra point and the way both defenses were playing it looked for the longest time like that would be the margin of victory.

“I thought first half down 7-0, we really controlled the game,” Emel said. “(But) there are no moral victories. It was a playoff type game and we lost 14-6. We’ve got to find a way to win these type of games.

“I think we played better than last week, but, again, five turnovers. You ain’t gonna win with five turnovers. Hey, our defense is pretty good.”

The Red Devils did punch it in early in the third quarter when Wright turned the left corner and went 25 yards to make it 7-6. But the Greyhounds stopped the Devils’ lead back short of the end zone on the conversion to maintain the lead. Wright rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries, several times carrying the pile for additional yards.

The touchdown was one of the few highlights for Penns Grove’s offense. The Red Devils, who had more than 300 yards rushing in their opener against Burlington City, were held to 60 yards net by the Greyhounds.

Of course, they were down three linemen during the course of the game and the Greyhounds took away the outside making it a more physical game, but it was ball security that once again was their main shortcoming.

After seven turnovers in the opener, they had six against the Greyhounds. They lost six fumbles in the opener and four Friday. All of the turnovers stole momentum, but the biggest was a strip by Kwalil Shepperson in the fourth quarter that Gabriel Rodriguez pounced on in the end zone for an insurance touchdown with 62 seconds to play.

The Red Devils still had time to get a game-tying score. They worked it to midfield, but their hopes for getting off a Hail Mary on the final play of the game never materialized as sophomore quarterback Ramello Erickson lost the handle going back to make the pass.

“A lot of people are going to put it on the quarterback,” Emel said. “We’ve got a young quarterback, but it’s a team game. We’re not doing him any favors.”

NOTES: Penns Grove had a short week to prepare for Pleasantville, but it gets eight days now for defending state champion Woodbury next Saturday … The Thundering Herd had to rally from a 12-0 deficit to beat the Red Devils in the finals of the Adam Taliaferro Foundation 7-on-7 in June … The 0-2 start is Penns Grove’s first since 2016. You’ll have to go past 2010 to find the last time they started a season 0-3 … If you were a little confused about matching names with the program today, Pleasantville was wearing an old set of uniforms. The Greyhounds wore their new duds for their Battle at the Beach opener and they hadn’t gotten back from the laundry before they left for Thursday’s game.

Pleasantville 14, Penns Grove 6

P’VILLE (14)PENNS GR. (6)
71st Downs6
32-74Rushes-yds30-31
9-24-1Passes6-17-2
98Passing yds29
2-1Fumbles-lost7-4
4-27.0Punts-avg7-22.4
15-138Penalties-yds6-33
Pleasantville (1-1)0707 –14
Penns Grove (0-2)0060 –6

Scoring plays
P – Dwayne Carter 19 pass from Ahmad Jones (Francisco Aguirre kick), 5:48 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 25 run (run failed), 9:28 3Q
P – Gabriel Rodriguez fumble recovery in end zone (Francisco Aguirre kick), 1:02 4Q


Sky-high confidence

Pennsville feeling good about season going into opener; all 5 county football teams in action this week

SALEM COUNTY SCHEDULE
Thursday’s games
Pleasantville at Penns Grove, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Lindenwold, 6 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Friday’s game
Pitman at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Camden at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Sky Eppes had never played running back on any level of organized football until Pennsville’s season opener last year against Lindenwold. But his first game – heck, his first carry – seemed to set him up as a natural.

Pennsville (0-0)
at Lindenwold (0-1),
Thursday, 6 p.m.

The then-junior admittedly was a little nervous going into it, but the first time he ever carried the ball in a varsity game he broke off a 20-yard run. He had two other long runs later, went for 200 yards and two touchdowns on 24 busy carries and the Eagles won by outscoring their visitors 34-26 when the clock ran out on the Lions.

The boys in blue seemed to be on their way to something special. But it didn’t continue. That spectacular beginning would be their only win as a bad mixture of internal and external forces conspired to tear their season apart.
 
Eppes and the Eagles open the new season against the same opponent Thursday – this time on the road — hoping for similar first-game results and confident about the needle trending upwards as they move forward.

“We won the game, but they had the ball driving it with time running out for a chance to tie it up, so it wasn’t like it was an easy game or anything for us,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “Obviously, it was great to get a win, but we knew we had some issues. 

“This year I feel more confident going into it, for sure. I think we’re just better overall (on) offense and defense right now going into it. We think we’re better prepared this year, better ready to go. We’ve played much better this preseason. We’re limiting a lot of mistakes. We still have some, but we’re doing a better job of limiting them going forward.”

The issues of last year behind them, the Eagles have brought in some new coaches with links to their most recent decorated past and the players are buying into what the coaches are selling. Now, it’s a matter of executing when they get on the field.

Lindenwold spread the Eagles out last year and exposed their coverage issues, but the Lions showed to be heavy run last week in their 19-0 season opening loss at Sterling.  

“We just want to execute properly, that’s really what it is,” Healy said. “We feel if we execute properly we can be in and win any game this year. I’m very excited with the group we have going this year. We’re still a young team but we have more experience coming back. There’s definitely anticipation because we think we can accomplish better stuff this year.

“We’re not dealing with internal things right now. We’re all focused on what the goal is. Everyone seems to have bought into their role on the team and understand that if we’re going to be successful we need all 11 guys on that field to do their job each time. We’re playing more as a team instead of 11 individuals.”

Eppes was as much a victim of whatever implosion was going on with the Eagles as anybody. He got moved to running back because Healy wanted some speed in the backfield and the move paid off with the 200 yards against Lindenwold, but he had only 452 in the eight games that followed.

His best rushing game the rest of the year was 97 yards against Schalick. In his defense, he also was used as a receiver and had 115 yards receiving against Cumberland.

“I was hyped,” he said about his first game at running back. “I was like we’re going to have a good year … and turn Pennsville around and bring it back to where it was in 2014. But it didn’t happen that way.”

This year promises to be better because attitudes are different and the Eagles have a scheme in place designed to put Eppes and the offense in situations to be able to do better. Now, he wants to set school rushing and touchdown records – once he learns what they are – and for the offense to have big games every week.

“This is my senior year; I’m trying to run as hard as I can and put up numbers,” he said. “I want to hit a big score again, I want to go hit a big score on everybody.

“We had bigger linemen (last year) but it isn’t about how big and strong you are, it’s about the heart that we have. The heart we have in this team will go very far. The heart and compassion for this team is what’s going to bring us along.”

PLEASANTVILLE (0-1) at PENNS GROVE (0-1): After suffering seven turnovers in their season opener – six lost fumbles – the Red Devils spent the week working on the highest priority for the offense – ball security. They moved the ball well enough to win, rushing for 328 yards, but the turnovers killed them. 

There wasn’t an idle moment in practice this week when a Penns Grove player didn’t have a football tucked tightly on their person. The thing coach John Emel didn’t want to see was a ball on the ground or the Red Devils would have, um, the hot place to pay.

“We made it a point of emphasis,” Emel said. “We practiced a lot of ball security drills. It’s not something we don’t talk about. Everybody has a Big 3 keys to win – we’ve done it forever – and the No. 1 on our board is always been ball security. If you take care of the ball, you win the turnover battle, no matter what else happens you have a better opportunity to win the game.

“We didn’t do that; that’s disappointing. We’ve definitely got to be better. I’m optimistic we’ll go out and play a lot better on Thursday and we’ll fix the things where we made mistakes. It wasn’t just a bad game, it’s the worst turnover game we’ve ever had in my 20 years of coaching high school.”

The most positive takeaway from the game was the debut of freshman Karon Ceaser. The Red Devils’ first true freshman skill position starter in 20 years rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns, but he wasn’t immune to fumbling either. The difference was he recovered his.

Pleasantville also is looking to get on the right track. The Greyhounds are coming off a 14-6 loss to Ocean City in the Battle at the Beach. They beat Penns Grove last year 26-2.

HADDON HEIGHTS (0-0) at WOODSTOWN (0-0): https://godaddy623.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/a-ware-of-history/

PITMAN (0-0) at SCHALICK (1-0): The Cougars’ dramatic season-opening win over their longest-tenured rival sets them up for another piece of history this week.

The Cougars have a chance to go 2-0 for the first time since 2017 when they opened the season with back-to-back shutouts of Wildwood and Riverside and set up what some observers think can be an even more historic start.

Coaches are notorious for not looking ahead (publicly, at least) so coach Mike Wilson’s focus this week was correcting the mistakes that were made in the opening – and there were some – and simply going 1-0 this week.

“It’s like I told the kids Saturday when we watched the film, we still haven’t played our best football yet,” Wilson said. “We did a lot of good things, but we left a lot of points on the field and made a lot of opening-game mistakes we’ve been fixing this week.

“The kids know we did a good job, but that’s over with now and we’ve got to get better. There’s a lot of room for growth. I expect us to make a big jump this week.”

Another thing the film revealed was just how good a game junior nose T.J. Hymer had. Hymer made the back-to-back stops on the goal line to keep Gloucester City from taking the lead at that point in the fourth quarter, but he did more than that.

“We knew T.J. played a great game, but he played probably the best football game of his life Friday night,” Wilson said. “What he did at nose Friday night, he played well, but watching the film, he played excellent. If I was grading his film, he would get high grades across the board.”

The Cougars lead the series 21-17. They have won 12 of the last 13 by some substantial margins, including an 11-game winning streak that was snapped in 2020.

CAMDEN (0-1) at SALEM (0-1): Now that they’ve sorted out where they’re going to play, the Rams can get back to the bigger business of fixing the things that went wrong in their opening-game loss to Executive Education.

The focus of the week has been tightening up their defense. The Rams were as close as 14-13 in the third quarter, then got outscored 28-6 the rest of the game.

“Our guys knew what we do, we just didn’t do it,” Rams coach Danny Mendoza said. “The discipline part of defense is what we need to focus on to get us on the right track. We’ve got guys who can make plays, we’ve just got to get those guys to do what we’re telling them.”

Now that he’s seen what his team has and needs at the speed of a real game, Mendoza can go about tweaking the defense to put players in more advantageous positions for their skill sets.

It’s a new experience for Mendoza, too. His experience has long been on offense, but the late timing of his hiring dictated Mendoza take the role of overseeing a defense for the first time. He’s brought a different look to the unit and it’s a work in progress for both sides.

“It’s a new role,” he said. “As an offensive guy you always make the defense the villain. Now, you have to even it out. The offense will always be solid, but we’ve got to make sure we’re just as solid on that side of the ball as well.”

The game was supposed to be part of the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic at Wilmington’s Abessinio Stadium, but conflicts at the site led to both teams pulling out. The game now will be played at Salem’s Walnut Street Field, the Rams’ long-time stomping grounds that fell into disrepair and led to the school building an on-campus stadium.

Photo: Pennsville’s Sky Eppes (1) runs the ball back during a recent scrimmage against Haddon Heights. Eppes and the Eagles make their regular-season debut Thursday night at Lindenwold. (Photo by Lorraine Jenkins)

Soccer scrimmages

Penns Grove boys, Pennsville girls take the field in first scrimmages of camp

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

BRIDGETON – Some days you play good, and some days you learn good.

The Penns Grove boys soccer team learned good Tuesday. The Red Devils lost their first preseason scrimmage under new head coach Mano Massari 4-0 at Cumberland Regional, but the rebuilding group picked up a lot to digest.

“We played a really good team,” said Massari, a homegrown talent elevated to head coach following the retirement of longtime head coach George Rhea. “I knew going into this year there were some big holes to fill and we probably wouldn’t get to the success we had last year. That being said, we’ve been working really hard this off season.

“We have a lot of new guys, a lot of young freshmen, a lot of first-year players. Going into this scrimmage we were plugging players in, seeing where they exceled at and still had a lot to learn at. I don’t want to say it was a bad day, because it wasn’t. I always tell the guys there are two things that happen at the end of the game – we can win or we learn, and if we learn it’s still a win.”

The Red Devils lost three-quarters of their 14-4-1 sectional semifinalist of a year ago and were missing two of their top returnees Tuesday, but they showed “flashes” of the team it can be going forward. Massari had been getting good reports before leaving on his honeymoon and was pleased with what he saw when he returned to the team from the trip Monday.

They fell behind the cohesive Colts 3-0 in the varsity portion of the match and the JVs yielded another goal in the final 20 minutes. Although the Red Devils didn’t score, Jayden Merga had one of their best chances, a shot that was turned away at the lower corner.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the effort, the heart that we showed today,” Massari said. “We were throwing together some pretty nice passes. We were able to transition and counter-attack pretty well a couple times. Had some nice chances to score, just weren’t able to capitalize on them.

“When you play a good team, it benefits them, it benefits us. We’re seeing what’s out there, we’re seeing what we need to work on. We’ve got some work we need to do, but I know we’re ready for it and they’re ready for it. They’re completely bought in and so am I.”

PENNSVILLE GIRLS SPLIT: The Eagles opened their scrimmage schedule with a tri-scrimmage and beat Buena 3-0 and lost to Haddon Twp. 1-0.

Returning striker Taylor Bass kept her scoring touch from a year ago and found the net against Buena along with freshman Karsen Cooksey and Riley Bowman. They had a few scoring chances in the half with Haddon Twp.

“I was overall pleased with what I saw,” Eagles coach Sam Trapp said. “The girls worked really well together. They were focused on taking the drills we’ve been placing in practice and putting them into action in the game, and that was well demonstrated today.

“We had really good set up there working with our midfielders. They did a lot of nice passing and working together. Defensively, our goalie stepped up big time and really took a little bit of ownership.”

Sophomore keeper Mara Widener is playing the position for the first and held her own against heavy pressure from Haddon Twp.

“She stepped up and kind of gave us a little bit more to work off of today, which was exciting,” Trapp said. “She’s finding more confidence every time she steps in the goal and she’s trying to learn the position the best she can.”

The Eagles scrimmage again Thursday at home against Haddon Heights and at Gloucester City Sept. 5.